MOON FALL Read Online Free

he'd left his window open so he could sneak back in the house, and he said yes."
    Doug's brown eyes lit up. "St. Gruesome's! Shit, guys, we were going to go to St. Gruesome's and see the girls. Like your brother used to, Beano."
    "Na h ," Beano said. "He made all that stuff up."
    "He what?" Winky Addams asked, as he s tu m bled into the group.
    Beano actually blushed. "He wrote me from college and said it was all a fake. He said we shouldn't go out there, that there was nothing to see."
    Doug grabbed Beano's sleeve and yanked him closer. "You lied?"
    "Hell, no. Brian did. He said so in his letter."
    "You didn't tell us!" Doug growled. "You let us go out there and - and ... " Looking lost, he let go of Beano.
    "I think maybe we talked about going to St. G's," John said slowly. "But we decided to camp out instead."
    "Yeah," Winky agreed. "Man, I feel like shit."
    Behind Beano, Winky, and Doug, Paul Pricket got to his fee t and paused, feeling for his missing glasses. Seeing John, Paul raised his hand in a just-a-minute gesture, then walked cautiously toward the cliffside-Paul couldn't even read the big E on the eye chart without his specs. John watched curiously, then realized by Paul's arm movements that he was unzipping his fly. He turned his attention back to the other three, who were still arguing.
    "Guys," he began, "we gotta find Greg-" As he spoke, he glanced up at Paul again, and even from this distance, he could see the boy's back stiffen. Elbows moved slightly putting the weasel away - and then Pricket just stood there, unmoving.
    "Paul!" John yelled.
    The other three turned to look.
    Paul didn't answer, didn't move.
    "Paul!" John was running, running, and the little meadow seemed to go on forever before he reached him. "Paul?''
    Paul turned then, his face pale and strange. He stared at John with fathomless eyes.
    "What's wrong?" John asked, as the other three arrived, and suddenly he knew. As the pit of his stomach filled with cold sludge, he stepped closer to the edge of the cliff.
    "No." Paul grabbed his arm, tried to pull him back. "No, John, don't look."
    He barely heard him. Shaking Paul off, he took the final step and looked over the edge. Below, Greg floated, face down, just below the surface of the pool, his red windbreaker puffing out of the water. "No," John whispered, as he felt the others gathering around him, staring down.
    ''No!" he screamed. Without thinking, he bent and dived. The fall went on forever, then he broke the water. Ice cold, impossibly cold, it seized his body, crushed his chest.
    He pushed to the surface, saw Greg floating three feet away.
    "Greg!" he gasped, and with one powerful kick, moved close enough to grab his brother. "Greg!" He turned the boy in his arms, saw the open eyes, dull with death, the raw flesh and mashed cheek and jaw bones, and wanted to die himself.
    "I'm sorry," he whispered.
    "Is he okay?" Doug called from above.
    John looked up at the four pale faces lining the cliff. His voice deserted him, but he was dimly aware of the heat of the tears coursing down his cheeks. He looked at his brother again. The water's so cold, sometimes people come back to life after being in cold water ...
    ''Is he alive?" Beano called.
    John didn't answer, just held onto Greg and swam for the water's edge, to where a steep trail led to the top of the ridge. The air felt warm as he climbed out of the chill water. Turning, he grabbed his brother under the arms and pulled him out.
    Greg was stiff and John knew then he wouldn't be coming back; all the CPR in the world wouldn't do it. Dimly he felt tears coursing down his cheeks, but his emotions were dead as he grimly pulled the little body-so much heavier in death than in life-up the path.
    ''Here, John." He looked around, saw Paul squatting on a rock just above him. Beyond, the others were strung out up the trail, waiting to help. "Here," Paul said quietly. "Hand him to me."
    "No, it's okay. I can do it."
    "It's too steep," Paul insisted.